Interview
Dawn Lannin is vice president of legal for Europe and Central Asia at Paris-headquartered oil and gas giant Total. She discusses the company-wide approach to diversity and inclusion and the rationale for aspiring to best practice.
Total’s diversity and inclusion strategy is predominantly internally driven. For many years we’ve recognised that it is not only the right thing to do, but there is also a business case for diversity. There are real benefits to working with people who have different perspectives and different approaches to solving a problem or achieving a goal. It is, of course, also an issue about which shareholders care. They care about how a company treats the environment and other stakeholders, as well as how they treat their employees − so it makes sense on every level.
Total has had diversity programmes in place for many years. We recognise that in order to recruit and retain talent, you have to be open-minded and inclusive. If you’re trying to hire the best person for the job, you can’t start by excluding capable people based on their race, nationality, gender, or disability.
